Hungary: New constitution is serious threat to right to information

Budapest/Berlin/Madrid, 26 April 2011 – Hungary’s president Pál Schmitt this week signed the new Hungarian constitution which abolishes independent oversight of the public’s right to know. It will enter into force on 1 January 2012.

Human rights and media freedom groups warned that the new constitution replaces the independent Data Protection and Freedom of Information Commissioner with an administrative authority will seriously weaken the right to access to information in Hungary, which in 1992 was the first country in central and Eastern Europe to adopt an access law.

There’s still a lack of clarity about the proposed new data protection and access to information authority as its powers will have to be established under a new fundamental act of parliament (Article VI paragraph 3) and no one has to date seen any draft text of that law. It is unlikely that the body will have the same powers or independence as the Commissioner enjoyed to date.

It is reported that the Parliament plans to adopt a new freedom of information law as early as September, even before the new Constitution comes in to force at the start of 2012.

Other serious changes to the Constitution include limiting the independence of the judiciary and removing the right of citizens to turn to the Constitutional Court with individual appeals.

“The adoption of the Hungarian constitution intolerably violates civil rights of the Hungarian people. The new constitution severely damages freedom of expression in a country that was once a European leader in the public’s right to know,” said Andreas Bock, editor at the media organisation n-ost.

“The Hungarian Data Protection and Information Officer has been key to promoting and protecting the right in Hungary and has been a model for the region,” added Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe. “This move is a way to bring an immediate end to the independence of the existing information commissioner and replace him with a more subservient authority.”

“The new agency will be less independent, consequently it won’t be able to confront the administration in major freedom of information cases, which will result in a less transparent and more corrupt state.” – added Tivadar Hüttl, Freedom of Information Program Director of Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.

The attack on the right to information is the latest in a series of regressive moves including the much-criticised reform of the media law and proposals to disperse the historical secret services archives.